There is an anonymous quote that reads, "Half of mankind is a little lower than the angels, and the other half is a little higher than the apes."
Given today's story out of New Jersey, I'd say that is a serious insult to apes.
And no, I'm not referring to the bankrupt braintrust that is The Jersey Shore.
A man is dead. An honest man. A man who lived, loved, worked hard, kept his head down and tried to do the best he could for his family.
His name is Abelino Mazaniego.
And that he was an immigrant means not a thing to me. It does not make him less of a human being, or what happened to him less of a heinous, horrific, soulless crime.
Mr. Mazaniego had finished his shift on July 17th at the Indian restaurant in a New York suburb where he worked to support his family. As he sat on a bench across from his place of employment, a group of teens approached. (According to one in the group, there were upwards of 12, but only three participated in what happened.) And for no good reason - hell, there can be no BAD reason - they proceeded to beat him, all the while capturing the horror of the attack on a cell phone so they could share it with their equally miscreant friends afterwards.
Alex Ruiz, 19, the teen talking to press and police, has this beautiful nugget to offer in defense, "We never thought the guy would die."
According to Ruiz, and corroberated by police who have reviewed the video, the creatures threw a shirt over Abelino's head and began to beat him into unconsciousness, leaving him on the pavement where he was found and taken to the hospital. He died three days later.
There are currently three POSes in police custody - a 19 year old, an 18 year old, and a 17 year old have been charged with manslaughter. Details on the one who did the videoing honors have not been released by police.
(And as if it wasn't bad enough? Mr. Mazaniego was robbed by a nurse in the hospital who helped himself to the $640 in the man's wallet. Stephan Randolph, may you, too, rot in hell.)
As a parent I simply cannot fathom having a child who would be involved, even peripherally, in something like this. ManSLAUGHTER is right - they slaughtered an innocent man just because they were bored assholes out roaming around on a Saturday night.
There is no defense of their behavior. I don't want to hear their parents whine to the media that their sons are "good kids."
No. No they're not.
And what makes this even more disturbing - if that is even possible - is that another man, Divyendu Sinha - a former professor and scientist - was beaten in his front yard by a pack of marauding teens on June 25 in New Jersey.
As his wife and children watched helplessly.
He died several days later as a result of massive head wounds.
Someone tell me what is going so very wrong in the human disgrace that teens have absolutely no compunction about beating an innocent person to death? What component is so obviously missing in how some children are being raised? Because something has to be seriously screwed for a person to not even think about the "what ifs" of their behavior in even entertaining this scenario.
These men are DEAD. And I don't care how f*cked up a child's upbringing, you don't have to be a teen to know that DEAD is PERMANENT. That DEAD is WRONG. That repeatedly bashing another person in the skull might have some DEADLY repercussions.
I full well expect to receive the typical cowardly email dripping with ignorance, bigotry, and callousness because of Abelino Mazaniego's ethnicity and immigration status. Comment boards are rife with this garbage tonight. Bring it on. Anyone who reads this story and instantly devalues the life that was taken simply because he wasn't born here or had the proper papers?
You are no better than the teens who killed these men. No better than the wretches who tore them from their families.
And you are certainly BELOW the apes mentioned in the quote at the beginning of this piece, and as far from the angels as is humanly possible.
May both Mr. Mazaniego and Mr. Sinha rest in peace.
And may their aggressors rot in jail.
I don't know why there is so much of this stuff going on. I'm very sorry for these poor men and their families.
Personally, unless one is seriously mentally ill, I think everyone knows basic right from wrong. Killing, stealing... I think we all get this is wrong. What switch flips that makes otherwise sane people do this is beyond me. These kids absolutely know right from wrong. They consciously made the decision to do wrong. Hope they get what's coming to them.
Posted by: Nikki | Friday, July 30, 2010 at 10:58 PM
There's nothing I can say about the tragedy of these two men's murders. This is far beyond kids being stupid kids...you guys said it all.
Bobbsey, re: any teenagers hanging out in packs, you have a point, but I have to say that where we were in Burlington, there was a park across the street and there were often packs of teenagers over there just sitting in the grass et - and no one ever worried about them, because they were a bunch of hippies! They hula hoop and play guitar, and smoke pot (though not in the park). And while that last one may not be ideal, I have to say, I don'[t know a lot of potheads who kill people or have violent tendencies of any sort.
Posted by: Carrie (Quik) | Friday, July 30, 2010 at 08:17 AM
Tracy, I am not a bit surprised. It makes sense, in that peer pressure is why any kids do 99% of the bad things they do anyhow.
Posted by: Kerry | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 08:35 PM
Just read on the local news website that two high school boys pled guilty to manslaughter of a fellow class mate, a beautiful, kind-hearted, well liked teenage girl named Makia Coney. Their reason? They had stolen the gun from another kid's father's collection, and "just wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone." Another local teen is amazingly alive after being shot in the head by a friend who had stolen a gun and guess what, "wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone." I don't Linda, maybe that's the answer as to why these two men are also dead - - pretty disturbing.
Posted by: Katy | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 04:35 PM
Suchitra -
We have, for many years, had a subscription to Time magazine and I read Joel Stein's op-ed piece when it was published a few weeks ago. I didn't find it funny or clever at all, but I don't think Joel Stein is ever funny or clever. He's nothing but a self-serving brat and I don't know why Time keeps him on.
The blatantly racist piece on Edison, NJ, however went far and beyond his usual insipid brattiness and ventured straight into pure offensiveness. I can't believe the editors at Time published it... and the backlash they got during the week afterwards was overwhelming.
Stein responded personally to the flood of angry responses in the July 19th issue of Time, saying, "I truly feel stomach-sick that I hurt so many people. I was trying to explore how, as someone who believes immigration has enriched American life and my hometown in particular, I was shocked that I could feel a tiny bit uncomfortable with my changing town when I went to visit it. That feeling was in no way meant to offend and was meant only to give insight into the immigration issues in general."
Yeah, right. His "insight" included racial slurs and nicknames, mockery and stereotyping of the Indian culture and race.
Again I say, Joel Stein is NOT funny or clever. He's an idiotic brat who shouldn't be writing for a highly-respected national news magazine.
Posted by: Lori in Texas to Suchitra | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 02:14 PM
Kerry, my ex-husband is a city police officer. Before he became and officer, I had to go to classes about the impact him being an officer may have on our family and one of the things they spoke a lot about was the fact that children of law enforcement officers tend to get into trouble because they are trying to prove to their friends that just because their parents are law officers doesn't mean they are goodie two shoes too. I saw quite a few of our friends children act out for exactly that reason. They believe their parents will get them out of any trouble they get into.
My children were told from the beginning that if they got in any trouble they better be prepared to pay the price for it because neither their father nor I would get them out of it. We have had a few instances where they tried to see how far they could go, but they also learned very quickly that wasn't happening in our family.
Anyway, that may be why your friends that are law enforcement officers have so much trouble with their children now.
Posted by: Tracy in Cincy to Kerry | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 01:08 PM
It would be very easy based on the ethnicity of the two men to draw a line relating them to some sort of bias, but it has not been proven so I specifically left it out of the piece.
Posted by: Linda S to Katy | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 12:57 PM
Horrific.
Let me tell you that when I am ANYWHERE - be it the parking lot of a grocery store, a mall, or even a "nice" residential street. If I see a pack of teenagers aimlessly hanging out(male or female, night or day, and race doesn't matter), I am on high alert.
Posted by: Bobbsey | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 12:47 PM
Do we know that is why these two men were targeted? (racism?) I didn't get that from the details of Linda's post. It sounded more like some sort of random, being in the wrong place at the wrong time when these less-than-humans decided to pick on someone. Did I miss something?
Posted by: Katy | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 12:34 PM
Thank you Suchitra. I Loved the response from Rahul Parkih (CNN). It is sad that Time Magazine would even publish the "My Own Private India' article in the first place. Whatever happned to 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'? Let me start of by saying I am an Indian (what religion is also not the issue here) - born in Hong Kong and now living in Canada. My parents are from India and one brother was born in India. The colour of one's skin has absolutely no bearing on the colour of their blood or the goodness of their heart. My best friends are non-Indian and non-Canadian. I find that friends from different cultures add richness to my life. May both Mr. Sinha and Mr. Mazaniego rest in peace.
Posted by: SK | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 11:04 AM
Hey Linda...
Have you read this article published by the Time Magazine? It pokes fun at all the Indians settled in New York. It is called my own private India. It is simply appalling.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999416,00.html
It created quite a stir in the Indian community.
Here is a response from another Indian writer on CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/13/parikh.stein.rebuttal/index.html?iref=allsearch
Racism exists. And esteemed magazines such as the Times have no problems promote it.
Just for clarification, we love Apu from Simpsons and love Office Space.
This reminds me of something my mother would say to me... use you humor to amuse people. Not to Abuse people.
Sorry this was such a long comment.
Regardless of the race or culture it is horrific that someone is killed for it. But I know numerous Indians in New York. And they face racism everyday. People like Joel Stein who have the honor of publishing for Times certainly don't help. They promote this attitude.
PS: Sorry this enraged me. Feel free to delete.
Posted by: Suchitra | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 10:33 AM
It is very affluent which I think is why there has been extra attention. Its sad that if it took place in Newark people would barely notice but because of where it happened there's more shock and outrage because 'that sort of thing doesnt happen here'. It was nice to see that 1,000 people did turn out for the vigil/memorial last night:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/hundreds_gather_outside_summit.html
Posted by: Ron to lizzie | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 10:02 AM
Kids today are truly scary. If you're not worrying about what yours may do, then you've got to worry about what someone may do to them.
Even in the best of homes, kids can go off track. I guess that's where true sociopaths/psychopaths come from - biology maybe?
I have two friends, both Federal Law Enforcement, that have sons that are totally out of control. Ones' son has already been arrested multiple times, for things as serious as being involved in counterfeiting money! These kids were certainly raised better than that, in law-abiding, hands-on parenting households.
And what can you do when a child is that far out of control? No amount of punishment, grounding, etc. seems to get thru. They're too young to legally put out of the house, you can't up and quit your job and sell your house to move them away from the environment, and if you smacked the heck out of them, you'd be in trouble, not them. I really feel bad for parents.
Another girlfriend went thru the same thing with her daughter. Had her in reform schools, off living with relatives, called the cops and had her arrested when she did illegal things they found out about, literally locked/nailed her in her room, etc., nothing worked. But she was too young to put out of the house - they legally had to support her, and she knew it. It got to the point that when she was home, they slept with a gun under the pillow, between being scared of her, or the friends she might let into the house.
Posted by: Kerry | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 10:00 AM
My understanding is this happened in Summit New Jersey. That is a very affluent town.
Posted by: lizzieb | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 09:25 AM
Please, karma gods, let them go to prison and get beat to death!
Posted by: SusanInFlorida | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 08:26 AM
Chrissy - The "jingle" you're remembering is a song from Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical "South Pacific." The song is called, "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught."
Posted by: Lori in Texas | Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 12:39 AM
I am beyond words...almost. I agree with what everyone else wrote 100% Prison is too good for the lot of them. I say we adopt the methods of some of the countries we decry, and stone them to death or how bout we give them a nice caning? Maybe, just maybe they will regret their actions - but I doubt it. What the hell are these parents teaching their children for them to think that any part of this is acceptable behavior?
Posted by: ChickyPimp (Kathy) | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 11:59 PM
I would hope that the visitors to this blog are not in any way the type that would post the crap you have seen on other internet boards. This is horrific and inhuman. Period.
Posted by: Shawn | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 10:52 PM
This is horrible. Absolutely horrible. I cannot understand why these teens thought this was an OK thing to do. What the hell is wrong with you? How would you like it if someone did this to someone in your family? Would you still think this is funny if it was your dad, your brother, your uncle, your grandpa? No? I didn't think so. As for the POS who stole from a dying man? I hope the money was worth the trip to Hell you're going to make. A$$hole.
Posted by: DeDe | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 09:59 PM
Sorry this is just too horrific for words here. I hope the full weight of the law falls on these people, including the thieving nurse. The thugs are old enough to be tried as adults in the case of the 17yr old. And they should go away for a very long time. I don't care how crappy their upbringing was, they're still alive to bitch about it. Something that Mr. Mazaniego is not, same with Mr. Sinha. So yeah put em away like the animals they are. As for the thief? Jail too after repaying the family double what he stole.
Posted by: Joanne | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 09:47 PM
I just cannot understand how someone can be raised with such disregard for human life.
Does anyone here remember the tv commercials from the 60's about racism? They had a little jingle that went "you've got to be taught to hate and fear, it's got to be drummed in your dear little ear". I still remember them 40 years later. I guess if we tried to do that today, it would be considered a sign of socialists trying to indoctrinate your kids.
Sometimes it just seems like we are moving backward instead of forward. Very sad. My heart weeps for these mens' families.
Posted by: Chrissy | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 08:52 PM
It is beyond my comprehension how anyone can think this would be funny, cool, or okay. I just can't imagine what these teens must have been exposed to at home in order to think this is okay. It just boggles my mind. I can't find the words to express the way this story makes me feel because I don't think Mr. Webster ever thought he had to have a word for it when he put out the dictionary. I am sick to my stomach and just can't imagine how his family must feel, how lost his wife must be right now without the man she loves and depends on there for her and their children anymore. Then on top of all that to have a nurse at the hospital that was treating him take the money right out of his pocket... unbelievable.
Posted by: Tracy in Cincy | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 08:52 PM
Just saw this on AOL and knew you would write about it. Turns my stomach. Simply do not understand.
Posted by: Eileen in MD | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 08:32 PM
I cried when I read this piece in the news today. I just don't understand how those animals could do this AND videotape it? UGH!
Posted by: Amy in CT | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 08:29 PM
I read this story earlier today. Makes me want to vomit. As you so clearly stated, there is NO excuse for this.
Posted by: Lori in Texas | Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 08:21 PM